Lying Child

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Home : 2008 : April : 16

Lying Child
By tara7884

I hate dealing with liars. It's hard to know what to do. You don't want them to think you believe them, but you don't want to draw extra attention to them either.

I had a student that would constantly lie, mostly
tall tales, like your student. This student had a personal counselor at the school and a guardian was aware of the problems. I agree with the PP that it is a larger issue than you can deal with in the class. I would get someone else involved.

As far as what to do in your classroom, this is a plan I developed with the student's counselor. I would not address the obvious lies.

I would give all the attention to another student and not recognize what was said. If the student said, "I caught a shark" I would turn to another student as say " Wow, I was looking over the tests today and I just wanted to let you know you did awesome!" I would just completely ignore the student and the tall tales.

I spoke with this student only once about the issue. I said, in a more
"professional teacher way" that I am not an idiot and am not going to listen to stories. If you tell them, I will not engage in ANY conversation about them. It's your choice to lie or be honest. I also encouraged the student to write poems, plays or stories to express ideas.

I would still hear a tale now and again, but it seemed to help. Good luck!